addition, premeasurements are not possible, as EndNote was integrated into the course
syllabus in its first semester, leaving me without before-EndNote and after-EndNote
comparisons. As a result, I can offer arguments about correlation but not causation at this
point in the research. Evaluative measures such as the bibliography and prospectus
assignments and the course exams provide evidence that students are learning how to do
political research; at the same time, they are using EndNote as a research-aid tool. Does
EndNote cause students to become better researchers? Such a claim cannot be made; I can
point to the correlation between increased use of EndNote and improving research skills
during the semester, but I cannot state that EndNote makes it so.
These limitations are neither surprising nor deadly. Initial investigations are rarely
conclusive, and the possibility of additional empirical evidence exists. Future semesters and
revised measurement techniques can produce additional survey data, focus group narratives
and other forms of evidence. Furthermore, the data already collected – inconclusive though it
might be – reveals some valuable information about the use of EndNote, its role within the
research-methods syllabus and the factors that affect student attitudes toward its use and
functions. I am reminded of my earlier observations within the classroom: As students learn
to use EndNote and knowledge spreads throughout the pool of political science majors, I and
other faculty members have seen a higher level of understanding about citations and
documentation and, in consequence, a lower barrier to their use. I see students claiming
ownership of their research portfolios with considerable pride, and I hear at least a few
graduating seniors talk about the EndNote library that will accompany them to graduate
school some day. In an important sense, they see themselves as researchers – not just
students who are observing research, but ones who are actively engaged in the broad and
collaborative research conversation, and that’s one of the most rewarding assessment
measures I can list.
Perhaps one of the most useful aspects of this still-unfinished project, at least for this
researcher, is the way in which it brings us back to teaching. EndNote seems to hold
considerable promise as a research tool but, as we have seen, we also must remain cautious
about its possible ill effects. The final focus of this project cannot be the tool itself but what
that tool urges and allows us to teach and learn. The point, I think, is not so much what
EndNote does but rather what it spurs us to do in response. The evidence suggests, I believe,
18
Convention